Dodal
L’Étoile · XVII
A nude figure kneels with two tipped vessels beside water. Eight stars occupy the upper half, with one much larger than the others. A small dark bird perches in foliage at the left.
Follow the two streams
Two vessels connect the designs, but the direction of pouring changes. Track each stream from its source to its destination before calling the scene hope or influence.
Start with the pictures
L’Étoile · XVII
Jean Dodal · Lyon, 1701–1715
Open the source image ↗
The Star · XVII
Pamela Colman Smith · 1922 printing, p. 137
Open the source scan page ↗Notice what changes
Smith
The Star · XVII
A kneeling figure pours from two vessels onto water and land beneath one large star and seven smaller stars. A bird stands in a tree behind.
Harris
The Star · XVII
A figure raises one vessel above the head and lowers another near the bent leg. Curving streams cross a large globe-like form. A bright star and spiralling shapes occupy the upper field; angular forms lie below.
Open Harris’s painting and reference page ↗Now read the authors
Waite’s explanation
Waite moves beyond the familiar keyword of hope toward spiritual gifts and the communication of life. His fuller account identifies the figure with the Great Mother and Binah.
Crowley’s explanation
Crowley identifies the figure with Nuith and Aquarius.
Where does each stream begin and end, and what difference does that make to your first reading?
Write one thing you can point to in the image, one interpretation from a named author, and one inference of your own. Keeping the three separate gives you something useful to revisit.
Read the contemporary essay
Gabriel connects the card with astrology and synchronicity. The study keeps those proposals distinct from the visual description and from evidence about how physical events occur.
Sources and image credits
The Dodal cards are one early-eighteenth-century Marseille witness. The black-and-white Smith plates come from the 1922 Rider reprint, whose title verso lists first publication in 1910. Colours in later editions can differ.
The images shown here are reproduced from public-domain sources, with their original borders and page context.
- Jean Dodal · source record and rights statement ↗
- Pamela Colman Smith · source record and rights statement ↗
Harris’s paintings are linked on their host’s reference pages. Crowley’s text is the separately identified Thelemagick transcription of The Book of Thoth. Neither a modern reproduction nor a transcription replaces examination of the original artwork or edition.